The Peterson Fam Blog is MOVING!

That's right! We have a new blog address and name. When I originally set up the blog, I had no idea what I was doing and the url is cumbersome and our title is boring. So Jared and I brainstormed for several months on what to call ourselves, and this is what we've come up with:

Urban Rednecks

We have laughing referred to ourselves as middle-class rednecks for a long time now, and we thought we'd just play that up.

So change our link on your blog rolls, head on over and keep up with our crazy life at:

http://www.urban-rednecks.blogspot.com/ 

10.5 Months

Janae has changed so much in the last month in a half, and every time I think about it I have a mild panic attack. She's 10.5 months now, and as we get closer to her birthday I am struck again and again with how quickly time flies. I can't believe how much they grow in the first year!

A few things about her now:

1. She is quite the cruiser. She has been crawling all over the place for about the last two weeks. About the same week she figured out the crawling, she decided she wanted to pull herself up on stuff. She's becoming quite the pro at that, but hasn't moved on to walking around things yet. Thank heavens. I am so not ready for her to start walking.

2. I think she is also going to be a climber. She stands up but always seems to want to go higher. I can't imagine what kind of bumps and bruises we are going to see when that stage hits.

3. She has a tooth! Yay! It only took her forever to get one, but she has one. It's on the bottom. I would take a picture, but it's nearly impossible to look in her mouth unless she's laughing or screaming. The second one is also coming in, but hasn't broken through yet. We've had some pretty cranky days around here.

4. She loves the cell phone. When I'm talking to somebody she isn't satisfied until I'm holding her and she can be right next to the phone. She doesn't reach for it, she just likes to be included just in case she has an opinion or something. So far her favorite person to talk to is Jared. I'll put him on speaker phone and she lights up like a Christmas tree when she hears his voice. It's pretty dang adorable.

5. We're still struggling with the solid food transition. Some days she seems to do well, and others all she wants is her baby food. So far she likes blueberry waffles, yogurt and hot dogs. She's even starting to like the puffs, and that's just been the last few days. She doesn't feed herself yet. She can pick up the food and tries to get it in her mouth, but she grips it in her fist and then tries to stick her whole fist in her mouth. She's close though, I'm sure she'll get it soon.

6. She's down to two bottles a day. I stepped it down at 10 months from 3 to 2, and when she hits 11 months I'll take away her morning bottle and will only feed her right before bed. Then at a year we'll be completely done (yes! yes! yes!). I'm also going to try and take away her binks. I think she'll do okay, but I'm not sure how I'll do. It's what I use to keep her quiet in church and when we're out shopping, and I haven't found anything else that works. I'm nervous about it.

7. She's just a really good baby. She's okay playing with her toys by herself, and is content to crawl around the house all day exploring. For all my belly aching, she really doesn't fuss a whole ton. If she does cry, it's for a reason. She is really happy and smiles all the time. It's so wonderful and we have such a good time hanging out together. We're pretty good buds, and I wouldn't have it any other way. ;-)

Summer Girl

We had a pretty low-key Fourth this year. The only fun thing we did was attend a bbq over at our bishop's house that weekend. It was blazing hot outside, but the food was good and the company even better.

As much as I want to, I can't claim credit for this picture. My good friend Meggan, who took these amazing pictures, was walking around documenting the event and she snapped a few of Sweet Cheeks. She's a pretty darn cute subject if you ask me. Meggan, you 'da bomb. I didn't even realize I needed this picture until it popped up in my inbox. Thank you for providing picture proof that we actually do stuff.

I remember last year on this holiday I was hugely pregnant and an emotional wreck. We stood in church to sing The Star Spangled Banner, and I sobbed through it. Then I looked up and Jared's at the other end of the pew looking at me like an alien had invaded my body. Then I sob some more, look up, and Jared has plastered himself to the wall. I think if he could he would have disowned me right then. That was a low point in our marriage. I'm still a little bent about it.

Thankfully, no sobbing this year, just enough sweat to fill a lake.

Why was I excited to move here again?

The Five Star Award

Sunday afternoon I took Jared to the airport so he could make a quick trip up to Milwaukee for an awards ceremony. A few months ago, Jared's old boss nominated him for The Five Star award, which is a big deal in this company. All of the big wigs had to approve him for the award, including the VP and the CEO of FedEx Smartpost. The company hosted a lunch for all the of the recipients and gave each one a very nice plaque:

The inscription says:

In acknowledgement of your truly superior performance, you now join a selct group of employees...recipients of the FedEx Smartpost FIVE STAR AWARD. As a member of this prestigious team, you can be truly proud of your contributions to FedEx.

We sincerely appreciate your continuing dedication, and trust that by your example you will inspire others to this same level of excellence.

Cool, huh?

Here is a picture of him at the actual awards ceremony with the VP of the company, Mike I. (I have no idea how to spell his last name):

I'm so proud of him! He works so hard and while I might be biased, he really deserves this award.

Congrats Jared, we love you!

In Which I Post Another List

I have a goal to keep each bullet point to a maximum of four sentences. Okay, five. No, four. I swear. Let's see if I can do it, eh?

1. I am so far behind on blogging, it's becoming ridiculous. I have pictures from Memorial Day weekend when my in-laws were in town that I still need to post. I have a few recipes that I've tried recently that were delish, and I thought I'd share those as well. Jared's flying out of town again on Sunday (for an excellent reason, and I can't wait to share when he gets home!), so maybe I'll catch up on Sunday afternoon.

2. Janae turned 9mo on the 26th, and she weighed in at 20.8lbs and was in the 75th percentile! *does a happy dance* Her pediatrician was so impressed with how much she has grown in the last three months. I can't remember her height, but it was in the 35-40 percentile. Shortie in the house!

3. Jared works. And sleeps, and then goes to work again. I'm pretty sure his employees see him more than we do. He did have a chance to go shooting last Saturday, and he came home a new man.

4. It's amazing what throwing some bullets down range will do for your mental state. Yes, I did just approve shooting as a therapy technique for taking out aggression. Of course, said aggression-taking-out must take place in an approved environment, following all safety precautions. Don't just wander into your backyard and pop some off.

5. That would an incredibly dumb thing to do. Have you seen CSI lately? You can't hide from those people man. And don't come running to me, cause there ain't no love for people who do incredibly dumb things.

6. I might even bust out "I told you so." Compassion isn't in my vocabulary.

7. Except to type it, I guess.

8. Where in the blazes was I?

9. Oh, me. Me, myself and I. Getting off Dr. Pepper is hard people. I'm sad to say that I've fallen off the band wagon several times since my bold declaration.

10. I spent lots of time reading. And feeding Janae. And trying not to snap at her when she doesn't eat fast enough. Yes, I'm a snapper. *shame face*

11. I hate it. And I instantly feel horrible after I do it. I've even made her cry. Trust me, I fire myself at least once a day.

12. Thank goodness my employer is so willing to work with me, and forgives instantly. I'm trying to be more like her. Have you read this yet? Our children are such great examples of the people we should be.

13. Janae is starting to crawl. It's freaking. me. out. And apparently crawling = excessive amounts of drool. As a friend so aptly put it, it's like living with Jaws. Her mouth is open all the time, and forget trying to keep her clothes dry.

14. Or our feet dry.

15. Just keepin' it real folks.

16. We have absolutely nothing exciting planned for this weekend. I'll be staring at my orange kitchen with utter loathing and trying to avoid lakes of drool. Jared has some random house/car/garage/lawn project planned, I'm sure. That man can entertain himself better than anyone I know.

17. On that note, I'll leave y'all alone and let you get back to your weekend. Hope it's a great one!

In His Spare Time

You can take the man out of the Army, but you can never take the Army out of the man!

Plum Tuckered Out

Yesterday we went to the zoo. It was our first trip ever, and Janae was, well, completely uninterested in everything. In fact, the only reaction I got to any animal was fright. From penguins. Clearly we need to teach this child to buck it up. So far she is afraid of the vacuum, the lawn mower and my blow dryer. And penguins. Bless her heart.

While she may be too young for the zoo, she does enjoy riding around in her stroller. She fell asleep somewhere between the zebras and the gorillas. Oh, the flexiblility of babies. If I were to fall asleep in this position I would wake up and walk around like a 90yr old woman for at least a week. Doesn't it make your neck twinge just lookin' at her? Yeewww... *shudders*